Description
An extraordinary 1950s JOFA piece that’s hand printed on heavy linen. A formidable scale, this find is a real piece of textiles history and offers an excellent opportunity for preserving its richly detailed design and saturate color in a number of ways.
Striking hunt country vignettes include horses and riders in full chase, a pack of retrievers hard on the fox’s heel, and a pastoral country estate in the upper left hand corner featured men and women of about the late Edwardian era in full array. Lovely browns in multiple shades, butternut, forest green, chartreuse, red, pink, white, and peach and pale mustard.
An heirloom piece to be treasured for generations. Made all the more amazing by the fact that it’s entirely HANDPRINTED! Wow!
While this piece could be used for a piece of furniture, my top recommendation would be to have it stretched and mounted and used as a piece of framed art instead (or a rod pocket made and draped as a hanging). This would preserve the piece in its entirety, and protect it more than would be possible in furniture use. Doing so would also give a visual centerpiece that would work perfectly in any hunt country decor in any place where its large scale could be adequately appreciated. Excellent for a winery, farm brewery, elegant country restaurant, English hunt decor, ranch, or any equestrian-themed interior.
Alternatively, if used in furniture it might be placed under glass as part of a large table; or a border added to make a bed cover top (best used solely as decor, and removed for bed use); or possibly as the back to a sofa where its large scale painting-like scenery can be fully displayed. Cutting into the piece however, would ultimately devalue its worth and longevity.
SIZE: 50″ wide x 65″ L
CONDITION: Excellent for its nearly 70-year old life span. It is richly saturate in color, the fibers are all well intact, and it has been lightly treated for small water spots (nearly invisible) and freshly ironed. That said, there are a few places, again, nearly invisible, where especially the darker color green has left some nearly imperceptible smudging. Mounted and hung this would not be seen, nor would it be visible in nearly any other application even close up. The BACK SIDE of the fabric does show age-related browning but this side would not be seen in any application and thus is irrelevant.
My recommendation for any design project with this would be that if you were at all concerned with further preservation than has been performed thus far, that you go to a very reputable preservationist for any further cleaning and touch-up advice before proceeding (don’t DIY if you’re not already experienced in textiles preservation).
Maker: They were Johnson and Faulkner, fabric and textile importers who, in the early 19th century founded their firm and portmanteau’d their names into Jofa. Jofa was known for its rich and important fabric designs. Later, in the mid 20th century, in 1965 , Arthur H. Lee & Sons acquired Jofa making it Lee Jofa. Both had always been in the high end manufacturing and textile trade, but with Lee’s innovative tapestry techniques, and Jofa’s extensive archive, they had a new way forward with these two important fabric houses.
Why High-End Vintage Fabric Samples?: Because the size and quality make it possible to access a very high-end fabric for a smaller scale project without the high cost of these fabrics which often begin at over $150 a yard. Or to access a small amount of discontinued fabric to match an existing piece of furniture, pillow, or lamp.
